Polyolefin resins are used in various fields as materials for film forming, sheet forming, blow molding, injection molding, etc., due to their excellent moldability, mechanical characteristics, electrical properties, etc.
Although generally excellent in physical properties, the resins are low in transparency, crystallizability and rigidity. In some applications, outstanding properties inherently possessed by the resins are insufficiently exhibited and thus the application of such resins is limited under the present circumstances.
There have heretofore been proposals to use amide-based compounds so as to improve the transparency, crystallizability and rigidity of polyolefin resins (Japanese Patent No. 3401868, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 1995-242610, and WO 00/52089). Although such amide-based compounds are favorable in imparting transparency and mechanical strength (especially, rigidity) to polyolefin resins, development of a nucleating agent is sought which can impart further excellent physical properties to polyolefin resins.
In particular, the amide-based nucleating agent disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 1995-242610 imparts excellent transparency, crystallizability and rigidity to polyolefin resins, but the thermal stability and alkali resistance of the amide-based nucleating agents themselves are not satisfactory, and improvement in thermal stability and alkali resistance is demanded.